Taxing Distraction

Posted on March 13th, 2018

by Rab Bruce’s Spider

There is a lot going on just now, and it’s difficult to keep up with the details of what are very complex situations. The major story in the UK media, if you discount the inane coverage of various members of the Royal family, is the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter. The Russians are being blamed by the British Government, while conspiracy theorists are claiming it is a false flag operation intended to distract the British public from the constitutional crisis which is about to engulf us. I don’t intend to comment on the Russian story at the moment since much of what is being said on both sides of the argument is based mostly on speculation.

Whether the UK Government would go to such extreme lengths to create a distraction is a debatable point, but distraction is certainly a technique they are fond of using, and there is another story which serves as an example of this.

The Tories in Scotland have been shouting about the fact that British Army troops based in Scotland will be paying more tax than soldiers based elsewhere. This claim has been picked up by the BBC and has even resulted in a Westminster promise to launch an official enquiry.

The claim is, of course, nonsense. Investigations by The Ferret have already shown that the majority of soldiers based in Scotland will actually be better off.

But that is not the point as far as the Tories are concerned. The point is to spread the propaganda, to have the BBC reinforce the message and to get people who do not use the internet for their news to believe another SNPBad story. If and when the official investigation concludes that the story is nonsense, you can be pretty sure that it will not be reported by the BBC, but having the investigation is not really the point. The damage has already been done because the message is out there.

If you’ve ever wondered why broadcasting is not devolved, this is why.

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